State Of The Union: Obama To Reflect On Administration’s Key Decisions At Final Address

Some of those decisions include the bailout of the auto industry and passage of health care law.

President Barack Obama has indicated that he will reflect on some of the most significant decisions of his administration Tuesday during his final State of the Union Address to Congress, according to USA Today.

Some of those decisions include the bailout of the auto industry, passage of the Affordable Care Act, “and policies he credits with a 70-month streak of job creation,” notes the news outlet. The theme of his final address to Congress will be: “America can do anything.”

The last State of the Union Address can be challenging for any president, as the nation’s focus turns to the next campaign and the gears of Congress become locked. President Reagan eschewed the temptation to burnish his legacy in his last State of the Union Address in 1988, saying he would “leave that to history. We’re not finished yet.”

By contrast, President Clinton gave the longest State of the Union history in 2000, an 88-minute address full of optimistic and futuristic rhetoric about the “mountaintop of a new millennium,” but also designed to boost Vice President Al Gore’s accomplishments.

The White House is suggesting, however, that Obama’s speech won’t be about Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. “This year, the president will do what is rarely done in Washington: Think beyond the next election,” White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough wrote to supporters last week.

He is also likely to focus on his controversial proposal that calls for stricter gun safety legislation, notes the report. On Friday, he pledged to leave a seat empty in the First Lady’s box to remember victims of gun violence. He will “likely address the Trans-Pacific trade deal, the battle against the Islamic State, and immigration — especially the Syrian refugee crisis,” notes the report.

Do you plan to watch? If so, what would you like the president discuss?